2. The Spanish Prisoner

A popular con dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, the Spanish Prisoner is an advance-fee fraud in which the con artist convinces a mark that he is in correspondence with a wealthy aristocrat who is being held in a Spanish prison under a false identity. The prisoner cannot reveal his identity without facing serious consequences, and is relying on the con artist to raise money to secure his release. The con artist persuades the victim to supply some of the money, with the assurance that he will be rewarded generously when the prisoner returns. If the Spanish prisoner sounds familiar it’s because it’s been updated for the computer age as the ubiquitous Nigerian money transfer fraud. Consider yourself warned.